


Leave

by Howlingdawn



Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26799046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Howlingdawn/pseuds/Howlingdawn
Summary: Stranded on an alien planet with Jim bleeding out, when their pursuers find them, Leonard obeys a particular order for perhaps the first time in his life.(Whumptober Day Three - Held at Gunpoint)
Relationships: James T. Kirk & Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949191
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Leave

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoyed writing this one. Might expand it should the inspo strike me

“Come on, kid, you can make it.”

Leonard moved through the streets of the alien city as fast he could, Jim’s arm slung around his shoulders, the captain’s other hand pressed to the bleeding wound in his gut. Factories and ramshackle buildings surrounded them, the skies dim with smog, the cracked pavement slicked with a recent coating of acid rain. Their stolen black factory uniforms were torn and filthy.

“Bones,” Jim rasped, his face ashen, “just leave me.”

“Ain’t gonna happen.”

Hearing their pursuers’ footsteps drawing near, Leonard turned down the nearest alley, the suddenness of it nearly pulling Jim’s feet out from beneath him. He scrambled, his fist gripping the fabric at Leonard’s shoulder, and between the two of them, they _just_ barely managed to keep him upright and moving.

“Bones, I’m ser- Ow!”

Leonard let out a hiss of pain at the exact same moment as a single raindrop slipped through a tear in his shirt, lighting his nerves on fire for the split second it burned.

_Damn it, damn it, damn it, not now!_

But the rain ignored his silent rage, forcing him to shoulder open the nearest door and dart inside. He half-dragged Jim through an abandoned living room, everything coated in cobwebs with a faint green glow. Ignoring nausea at his wild imaginings of whatever alien bug made glowing cobwebs, he pushed through the rundown old house until he found the kitchen. With a wall between them and the exterior exit, he helped Jim sit down on the other side of the island, a thin extra layer of protection should their pursuers come barging in.

_I hate that I think tactically now._

He ignored the thought – Jim needed him active and helping, not dwelling on philosophy and mid-life crises. His blood was already starting to drip onto the dull grey floor, his eyes beginning to glaze over after barely two seconds of rest.

“Stay awake, kid,” he snapped roughly, forcing himself to take the time to grab a chair, shut the door to the living room, and wedge it beneath the handle. “This planet isn’t _that_ far off from warp capability, they’ve gotta have something you can jury-rig as a communicator or weapon or whatever.”

“In a kitchen that looks like it’s been empty for decades?” Jim retorted weakly.

“You’ve done more with less.”

“Fine. Just… gimme a minute to think.”

Pretending that they had a spare minute to give him, Leonard rummaged through the cabinets, opening the doors that still looked intact, suddenly extremely grateful for this planet’s obsession with airtight construction in everything when he found a couple clean hand towels. Not much, but better than nothing.

“Here,” he said, returning to Jim’s side and giving him a towel. “Use this to stem the bleeding.”

Jim obeyed without complaint, which worried Leonard more than almost anything that had happened so far. “Damn projectile weapons,” he grumbled, hiding behind the frustration as he pressed down over Jim’s hand, adding his strength to Jim’s own dwindling supply.

_At least it doesn’t look like the bullet would’ve hit any vital organs._

_Not that that’ll matter much if he bleeds much more._

_I hate away missions._

“Tell me about it,” Jim agreed, blinking away that glassy-eyed exhaustion as he looked around. “If you can find… um… a- a radio, I might be able to… do something.”

“A radio,” Leonard repeated. “They’re blocky old black things on this planet, right? With like a billion antennae.”

Jim shot him a look, one that said he knew exactly what Leonard was doing by asking a question they both knew the answer to, but he let it slide. “Yeah.”

Leonard hesitated, every instinct he had screaming at him to stay right here and keep applying pressure until someone back on the _Enterprise_ pulled off one of their usual just-in-the-nick-of-time miracles, but he forced himself to move away, going to look for a radio.

Which left him in plain view when their pursuers burst in without warning, each one hidden securely in acid-stained, battle-scarred grey and black tactical gear, aiming massive rifles at him, shouting at him to put his hands up, demanding to know where Jim was.

He was tucked away, still out of the soldiers’ sight. If Leonard could keep them from going any further into the kitchen…

_Bones, just leave me._

_You got it, kid._

The odds of it working were slim to none, but the lie rolled easily off his tongue anyway: “He was too weak. I left him.”

After a moment’s consideration, they seemed to take him at his word. Gesturing out the door with their rifles, they ordered him to keep his hands up and walk.

Praying Jim did nothing to give himself away, Leonard let them wrap him in flimsy acid rain gear and shove him out the door, rifles prodding his back if he moved the slightest bit too slow for their liking.

He resisted the urge to take one last look back as they left Jim alone.


End file.
